The 54.90-acre (22.22 ha) memorial park serves primarily as a cultural center and contains art galleries, a theater, and an amphitheatre. A museum, which details the history of the U.S.–Mexico border, is located inside the visitor center. The park honors the peaceful resolution of the Chamizal dispute, a more than 100-year border dispute between the United States and Mexico that resulted from the natural change of course of the Rio Grande between the cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. This national memorial was established on part of the disputed land that was assigned to the United States according to the Chamizal Convention of 1963; a corresponding Parque Público Federal El Chamizal [es] was created on the now-Mexican portion of the land.[5]
The Chamizal Convention was negotiated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which was established in 1889 to maintain the border, and pursuant to later treaties to allocate river waters between the two nations, and provide for flood control and water sanitation.[6]
^Long, Christopher. "Chamizal National Memorial". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
^Robert J. McCarthy, Executive Authority, Adaptive Treaty Interpretation, and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S.-Mexico, 14-2 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 197(Spring 2011) (also available for free download at https://ssrn.com/abstract=1839903).
^"NRHP Chamizal". Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
^"Picnic". National Park Service. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
^ ab"Chamizal". National Park Service. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
